Learn how to coddle an egg to use in mayonnaise and salad dressings. Perfect when feeding kids, the immune-compromised, and pregnant women.
Today’s post is less recipe, and more a “how-to” for a basic cooking technique everyone should know. By the end of this, you’ll know all about how to coddle an egg that will allow you to make all of the homemade mayonnaise and salad dressings your heart desires.
In less than 5 minutes you can easily learn how to coddle your eggs and remove any unwanted bacteria from your raw eggs. It’s simple, fast, and definitely worth the little bit of extra effort.
What Are Coddled Eggs?
There are two types of coddled eggs most commonly used. This tutorial focuses on Type #1.
- An uncracked or “whole coddled egg” is an uncracked egg gently cooked in boiling water for a very short amount of time to reduce or eliminate bacteria. This type of coddled egg is commonly used for homemade mayo, dressings, and sauce where a raw egg is called for.
- A cracked coddled egg is a whole egg gently cooked in a small dish in a hot water bath. When this culinary technique is done properly the yolk should be slightly runny while remaining unbroken. In this respect, it’s similar to a poached egg. The difference between a coddled egg and a poached egg is that a poached egg is made by cooking the egg directly in the cooking liquid, whereas a coddled egg is cooked in a small dish (usually a small ramekin) instead.
When you have no-bake recipes that call for eggs, like mayonnaise, or Caesar dressing, swapping the raw egg for a coddled egg will help reduce or eliminate the risk of bacterial contamination.
How To Coddle An Egg for Dressing
- Bring a small pot of water to boiling.
- Set up an ice bath (lots of ice and cold water in a bowl).
- When water begins to boil, submerge whole egg into the pot for exactly 1-minute. (image below)
- Remove and immediately place in an ice bath for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Remove and use in place of raw egg.
This simple technique can be used anytime a mayo, salad dressing or aioli recipe calls for a raw egg. It can also be a great solution for pregnant women, nursing mom, small children or anyone who doesn’t just doesn’t want to eat raw eggs. Simply, coddle your egg first and then add it to any recipe.
Recipes That Use Coddled Eggs
As I mentioned above, coddled eggs are great for recipes the would normally include raw eggs, especially sauces and dressings. Check out these recipes below for some of my favorite ways to use coddled eggs!
Homemade Creamy Caesar Dressing
Tips For Coddled Eggs
- These cooking times are for 1 large room temperature egg. Eggs straight out of the refrigerator and larger eggs will require a longer cooking time.
- Be sure the eggs you are using are as fresh as possible. Older eggs will not cook as well, as the egg whites begin to thin out after about a week. After that point, the consistency of the coddled eggs will not be as pleasant as if you had used a fresh egg.
- This technique is specific to salad dressings, mayonnaise, and aioli recipes. Soft cooked eggs and coddled eggs for salads and other dishes require different cooking times.
More Egg-cellent Recipes
Eggs are great in all forms, and are often a staple in my house. You can cook them and dress them up almost any way you want to make each egg different than the last. So next time you have some extra eggs to cook, be sure to check out some of my other great egg recipes that I know you’ll love!
Deviled Eggs With Truffle Salt
Pepperoni Pizza Breakfast Casserole
Paleo Quiche with Chorizo and Spinach
Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating below!
Learn how to coddle an egg to use in mayonnaise and salad dressings. Perfect when feeding kids, the immune-compromised, and pregnant women.
- 1 egg or more depending on recipe
- boiling water
- ice bath
- spider strainer or slotted spoon
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Bring a small pot of water to a boil. While water is heating up, set up an ice bath in a small bowl (just lots of ice and cold water).
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Once water is boiling, gently submerge egg in boiling water for exactly 1 minute (if you let it go longer, the white and yolk may be too firm). Immediately remove and place in ice bath for 1 minute.
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Crack open and use in recipe as directed.
Did you make this recipe? Tag @EverydayMaven on Instagram with the hashtag #EveryDayMaven and please give a star rating below.
UPDATE NOTES: This post was originally published in July 2014 and was updated in June 2019 with new photos, step-by-step instructions and more helpful information on how to use coddled eggs.
Denay DeGuzman says
This post on how to coddle an egg is an excellent reminder about treating eggs prior to making recipes using raw eggs. Thank you!
Alyssa Brantley says
Awesome Denay! thanks 🙂
Justine says
I’ve always felt weird about eating foods that have raw eggs in them, so I’m so glad I stumbled across this!
Alyssa Brantley says
So happy to hear it’s useful for you Justine!
Jeff says
Will this work for preparing eggs for Tomago Gohan (eggs over rice) without changing the egg consistency? I want to try it but am concerned about salmonella!
EverydayMaven says
Great question Jeff! It should work – they might not be quite as loose though!
Liz says
Does this timing method work for chilled eggs and room temp please?
EverydayMaven says
Do you mean eggs that are kept at room temp?
Sandi says
Perfect to top off my soups (brothy soups) .
Thank you.
EverydayMaven says
You’re welcome Sandi!
Ana Chavarria says
Thank you so so much! I needed to make mayonnaise, and this method is better than any other for fresh mayonnaise. No worries about food safety.
EverydayMaven says
Wonderful! So glad this worked for you 🙂
Ee says
Thanks for this info about egg coddling. Now I can make fresh mayo and not worry about bacteria cheers
EverydayMaven says
So glad that this is useful for you!
Thalia @ butter and brioche says
awesome.. thanks for sharing the information + tips! definitely picked up some new knowledge.
EverydayMaven says
Absolutely Thalia! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
John@Kitchen Riffs says
Good recipe! And a great way to prepare eggs if you’re worried about bacteria, and don’t have access to pasteurized eggs. Plus coddled eggs are good on toast! If you’re a fan of really runny eggs, that is. 😉 Which I actually am!
EverydayMaven says
How long do you usually cook yours for if serving over toast John?